Is SA Hunters about to screw us all?

[Paul]

http://www.bac.org.za/assets/media%2...ms%20final.pdf

Note that neither GOSA nor SAGA were invited, but, strangely, look who was there.

Read the speech in detail.

1
Remarks by Minister of Police, E.N. Mthethwa
at the National Destruction of Firearms,
Vereeniging, Gauteng
15 January 2010
National Police Commissioner, B. Cele,
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ms S. Chikunga,
All Deputy National Commissioners present,
All Provincial Commissioners present,
All Divisional Commissioners present,
Business Against Crime South Africa representative, Dr G. Wright,
Gun Free South Africa representative, Ms N. Jaynes,
SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association rep., G. Nell,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Constitution of our country guarantees every person the right to
life and the right to security, which includes among other things, the
right to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private
sources.
2
The Constitution further guarantees that adequate protection of such
rights is fundamental to the well-being, social and economic
development of every person. The increased availability and abuse
of firearms and ammunition has contributed significantly to the high
and unacceptable levels of violent crimes in our society.
The duty we are about to discharge today, the destruction of firearms,
certainly takes us one step closer to this objective. It will contribute in
the reduction, proliferations and availability of illegal firearms. The
fundamental aim of Government is therefore to build a society where
citizens will enjoy a dignified and improved quality of life. The
proliferation of arms in our society stands in direct opposite of this
goal.
This Constitutional perspective, supported by our commitment as the
Police Force, is what informs our presence here today. We are not
only reaffirming our theme for the Firearms Amnesty: Together We
Can Do More Against Crime. Awulethe Umshini Wakho – Surrender
Your Firearm but today’s destruction, means we are here to vuvuzela
and shisa these mshinis.
Today South Africa will be safer because the Force has removed
from circulation some of the illegal firearms, which would have been
in the hands of criminals. Today our businesses have been spared
from another robbery. Today our homes have been spared from
break-ins. Today our schools have been spared from intimidation by
criminal elements intent on disrupting normal schooling. And today,
another innocent life has been spared.
3
Today, South Africans will witness the destruction of 80 611 firearms;
the breakdown is as follows: Gauteng 67 286, Free State 1 424,
Limpopo 5 200, Mpumalanga 2 606 and North West 4 095. The other
outstanding provinces will finalise their destruction operations within the
next three months. A total of 517 252 firearms have been destroyed
during the period 2005 - 2009 (five years).
We regard these as remarkable achievements and remain confident
that through various seizure operations we will be embarking on, the
Force will continue to destroy volumes of firearms during the year and
succeeding years.
We hold a firm view that responsible gun ownership does not cause
crime. It is the merciless scoundrels who rob and kill innocent
citizens; in the process disarm the law-abiding citizens of their legal
firearms. These however, instantly become illegal once they are in
the hands of criminals as they have neither rightful ownership nor
mandate to utilize them.
When we launched the Firearms Amnesty this past Monday in
Pretoria, we emphasized that through this Amnesty, Government is
also advocating for responsible gun ownership. It further seeks to
ensure that those who may have inherited legal firearms, but wish to
surrender them, can do so. It needs to be clearly understood that the
war we are waging is towards the criminals, not law-abiding citizens.
As the police leadership, we note that firearms control in our country
is an issue we need to be sensitive about, in order to ensure proper
4
control mechanisms. It is for this reason that the implementation of
the Firearms Control legislation in South Africa forms the foundation
for effective control of firearms.
As we emphasized before, the Force will tighten the screws on the
control of the sources of some of these illegal firearms. These range
from stolen firearms from members of the public, firearms illegally
smuggled into the country, firearms possessed by the private security
and those lost by members of the Force.
One of the critical focus areas is around the borderline control areas.
To this end, from October last year following Government’s decision
to deploy the Army into the borderlines, a comprehensive strategy to
deal with the flow of these illegal firearms is being developed. We will
further capacitate members of the Force through re-skilling, to ensure
that they are not easily disarmed and robbed by criminals. Equally,
we will ensure that our storage facilities at police stations are properly
monitored and protected.
Our constant engagement with various independent organizations
and stakeholders, as witnessed by the presence of Gun Free South
Africa, South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association as
well Business Against Crime South Africa here; is further testimony of
our open-engagement approach. Your presence and continued
support of this process heartens us, and we are keen to continue with
these partnerships as we work towards the same vision.
5
We are here today to convey and emphasize the message that, only
law-abiding citizens can be in possession of firearms. Equally,
Government is intent on ensuring that we disarm criminals of
firearms. There is neither Constitutional right nor privilege that
guarantees criminals to possess firearms.
We remain confident that the reduction and eradication of the illegal
pool and criminal use of firearms paves the way for an operational
crime combating approach. This approach includes detailed analysis
of control dysfunctions, the detection of the origin of illegal firearms,
linking of cases and criminality, procedural and focussed organised
crime interventions as well as effective cross-border operations.
It further needs to be borne in mind that, the Firearms Amnesty does
not imply that for the next three months our members will be solelyfocusing
on firearms collection. Our operations, including seizure,
searches, roadblocks, visible policing will still be intensified. If
criminals think they have seen more of our vengeance, they have not
seen anything yet!
The number of firearms you witness today did not come as a result of
firearms flowing from above like manna. It is through hard work,
dedication and selfless commitment from police. When police mount
anti-crime operations in search of these firearms, they do not loudhail
to criminals to surrender these weapons. In an imaginary world,
we would have been content if we used such methods, and criminals
heeded our calls and refrained from crime.
6
However, in realistic world we face and deal with each day, police
sacrifice their lives in search of these illegal firearms. Often times
they get shot injured and in the process, some lose their lives. It is
therefore distressing to us as police leadership to learn each day
about the loss of a member, while in their quest to save citizens’ lives.
One death is one too many. We say enough is enough!
One of the fundamental and positive aspects about our democracy is
that, government has mercy on its citizens. Naturally as citizens when
urged and granted periods to comply with certain regulations, these
could vary from tax returns to firearms amnesties, we often miss the
deadlines. We need to ascertain citizens that the Firearm Amnesty
will not be an annual occurrence.
We urge citizens to utilize the Amnesty period because post the 11th
of April 2010, we will leave no stone unturned. We will hunt like a
hungry lion prowling towards an antelope, with fierce aggression.
Therefore all those who hear our voice of mercy we urge you to
comply because we will have no mercy on any criminal. This is our
commitment and we are not apologetic.
The confidence we express in the transparent and efficient execution
of this Amnesty by our members, remains unshakable. We are
certain that from Thohoyandou police station to KwaMashu police
station, right across Kimberley and even the remotest stations such
as Lusikisiki, the process will be faultless.
7
We draw our confidence from the monitoring systems we have put in
place, which comprises of various stakeholders so that we can
maintain transparency in the whole process.
The increased availability and abuse of these firearms and
ammunition has contributed significantly to the high levels of violent
crime in our society. Many crimes ranging from incidents to settle
domestic disputes to armed robbery and murder are committed by
people who legally or illegally possess firearms. Each year many
licensed firearms are lost or stolen, thereby contributing to the
proliferation of guns that are in the hands of criminals.
If we are to rid our society of the kind of violence we experience, it is
important to move towards changing the negative psychic in
criminals. We are certain that as we destroy and crush these illegal
firearms, we will be crushing their missions and plans.
We are intent on depriving them of their mshinis while at the same
time ensuring that those who may have committed criminal acts, that
their deeds are accordingly punished.
It is indeed a responsibility of every South African to assist
Government in our endeavours to create a safe environment for all.
“Awulethe Umshini Wakho – Surrender Your Firearms.”
I thank you.

[Thorkind]

Awesome. SAH come across as people who give 2 ****s about firearms as long as they get to go hunt with the guys once a year.

Today our homes have been spared from break-ins...

Wow, I need to find one of these guns. They have a built in hacksaw to saw through burglar bars as well as a built in sledgehammer to smash doors open.

[camouflage762]

It is my perception that SA hunters has a very narrow view on the whole fireams debate, but then the same could be said of collectors & sports shooting assoc.) Why is it neccessary that a hunting & conservation organization be present at a firearms smelter? Its more important to ask who was NOT there.

I believe the government has taken a divide & rule approach to negotiating with the firearm community.

I am nervous that SAHC settles out of court or does not take its case further....

[abhm]

the ministers own words!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read the Minister's address carefully:

"We hold a firm view that responsible gun ownership does not cause

crime".

Guys either all our letters are having an impact or he has gotten a better speech writer! we need to emphaisze his own words and bounce them right back at him in all aspects, from our motivations to our letters to the media, I encourage all to go through this speech bookmark it and not let the pressure decrease!

[gizmo16]

A tad confused, perhaps I am missing something, but SA Hunters were merely present while this speech was given? Is it by just being there that they are lending support?

[Sean Murphy]

The SAPS invited SA Hunters so that they can later claim that legitimate firearm owners also support the disarmament process and the FCA. SA Hunters should have known better than to attend.

Remember also that it was SA Hunters that initially gave some support to the FCA and landed us with the numerical restrictions for various purposes. They only came to their senses when they realised they were not getting any special treatment and their members were struggling with a slow burdensome process just like everyone else.

Sean.

[camouflage762]

The speech IMO is at best a "mixed signal". The facts are that firearms owners still jumping through hoops. The Commissioner is actually admitting that if it weren't for the Hunters court case they would not be holding an amnesty .

If the SAPS were genuinely interested in sorting out this issue it could have been done pre 2000......

We are in the this mess because of the Goverment/SAPS, NOT the firearms owning community.

[gizmo16]

I see Sean, I was just asking out of ignorance, not really knowing what it was all about. I see your point.

I think a lot of people would find the FCA easier to swallow, as silly as it is, if it wasn't for the absurd delays with issuing of licenses.

[Sean Murphy]

When SA Hunters went along with the FCA, Bothma and company were very quick to point out that "many firearm owners and organisations support the control of fireams" and the implication was that those who did not were just a bunch of radicals that should be ignored.

I was very happy to see SA Hunters change their stance, largely due to new management but by then the damage was done. Of course I support their latest stand against the FCA and hope they go through with it and win. It would, in my eyes, redeem them greatly.

Sean.

[Davidc]

Does anyone have a breakdown of the firearms that were destroyed? To say that all the firearms destroyed were illegal arms is misleading and plays right into GFSA's hands. I am sure the majority of firearms that went into the smelter were scrap, surrendered or otherwise legal arms anyway.